Musings
by Sakura Heki
Summary: Possible references to sex later. Short one shots and song fics about your favorite Naruto characters. Sakura is the only one at the moment, accepting requests for different characters and pairings.LATE Birthday fic! ShikaSaku Please read! & Review!
1. Sakura: Beautiful by Christina Aguilera

_Don't look at me_

Sakura looked through the pink hair hanging over her eyes into her mirror. The hair was hiding her biggest insecurity, her what claimed to be large forehead. The hair that was hiding it made her feel even worse, a minor, more, secretive insecurity of hers. She had a huge-forehead and pink hair.

She was ugly.

She had no skill as a ninja. Her teammates knew that. Hell, her teacher had no faith for any true form of potential from her. Her parents were right, she should have listened to them. They said she should be a ordinary girl, not a kunoichi.

She would never be special, never unique, at least not for anything other then her abnormally large forehead and pink hair.

But no matter what, she was a kunoichi.

Her mother would always assure her that she was beautiful. Sakura never believed her. No one else tried. Who else would try to convince her of something that absurd?

Naruto.

The blond hair, blue eyed boy. She's grown to love as her brother, but of course she would never let him know that. So to someone, she was beautiful. Maybe, just maybe. She was beautiful to the world, but the world hadn't seen, maybe...

To her, Naruto is beautiful. In his own way. He's so amazing. He can always find the silver lining of a cloud when it storms. He's an inspiration. He's an optimist, but to be truthful. She hates optimists. But she doesn't care. He's always there to boost her confidence, to try and make her smile. He's always been there, and always be there. He'll always be strong, in more then one way. And that makes him beautiful.

A team. Everything they're not. One of them is missing, one lives in the clouds, one only concentrates on finding the missing, and one...is well...a pervert. But that makes them so much more like a team then anyone else. They are the ultimate team. No one will stop them, the sun will always shine down when they're together. Nothing.

'In each of their own ways they are beautiful,' Sakura realized, 'They never let anything stand in their way. They'll always be beautiful, in their own unique way. They won't let anything bring them down. And that makes them even more beautiful.'

'So maybe in some way,' Sakura's mind began to drift, 'I am beautiful.'

Darkness took her mind as she drifted along with her mind into the serene night. Sleeping was something she could do with ease, and in her own beautiful way.

_I am beautiful in every single way_

_Oh no, So don't you bring me down today_


	2. Sakura: Goin' Crazy by Natalie

You understand I gave everything for you?

I gave you my I heart, and I sacrificed my friendship for you.

I gave up everything that could have been.

Everything I needed.

For the one thing I wanted.

I gave it all up for you.

I loved you Sasuke-kun.

It's too obvious.

I know you're not stupid.

Maybe you just don't want to accept it.

Maybe you just don't love me.

I miss you.

We all miss you.

Even Naruto.

I want you to come home.

I know you will never love me, and I'll never be acknowledged by you, and maybe I'll never be as beautiful as Ino, or Tenten.

But I miss you.

I would do anything for you the be back with us, anything.

I'm going crazy without you here, Sasuke-kun.

I can barely stand it.

It's all changed.

I should have stopped you.

I tried.

But I couldn't.

I was too weak.

Too frail.

Everything you hate.

I love you.

I love you with all my heart, Sasuke-kun.

Please forgive me, but I miss you.

Please come home soon.

I love you.

Forever and always, Sasuke-kun.

_  
That's right baby,  
I'm going crazy.  
_


	3. Sakura: Everybody's Fool by Evanescence

What you don't see about me.

It won't hurt you.

Only me.

I love being pressured into acting perfect.

I love it.

I love when you boss me around, my friend.

I love when I'm made fun of.

I love being made into the fool.

You've hurt me.

I love him.

I am perfect.

I refuse to hide anymore.

I may not be perfect as you expected, that's the truth.

But I don't care.

Somehow, I had everybody fooled.

But not, I'm everybody's fool.

I'll always be real.

But I am beyond saving.

And yes.

I have now become everybody's fool.

_It never was and never will be _

_You're not real and you can't save me _

_Somehow now you're everybody's fool_


	4. Short KakaSaku

Why do I love you?

Why would I want you so badly?

Why?

Maybe it's the way you help me, but ignore me at the same time. Am I not worth your attention? You focus on the boy with no heart, you give more attention to the boy with the cursed seal. Only in privacy do I conquer your attention.

Maybe it's the way you watch me. You think I don't notice as you observe as I train, contorting my body to dodge stray weapons and jutsu. The way you watch every petite curve move as I walk.

Maybe it's the way you kiss me. When no one is looking, kissing me gently through your mask. Or in private, when I cover my eyes with me forehead proctor to feel your lips against mine.

Maybe it's the way you'll touch me. Not now, but in the years to come. Feeling your skin against mine. Keeping me warm on cold nights. The way you'll push me over the edge. Holding your body against mine.

Or maybe it's the way you love me. In silence and secret.


	5. Happy Belated Birthday!

**Present: March 28th: 5.07 P.M.**

_'Birthday's,' Sakura thought as a scowl reached her face, 'why do you celebrate another year of being in a living hell?'_

Sakura thought as a scowl reached her face,

Sakura's day had been ruined at within the five minutes after she woke up.

**March 28th: 8.27 A.M. **

The sunlight had finally covered the newly turned eighteen year old girl...no, woman. She tried to hide from the light, but ended up falling off her king-sized mattress tangled in her satin blue and silver comforter. A small whimper of pain could be heard in the silent apartment. The young woman had somehow landed on her wrist, twisting it causing her become the miserable temporary owner of a sprained wrist.

**Present: March 28th: 5.11 P.M. **

The young pink haired Jounin looked at her bandaged wrist and sighed softly. A faint tinge of pink graced her cheeks as she remembered the next event that contributed in ruining her day. It was sheer embarrassment.

**March 28th: 9.15 A.M. **

Sakura had just stepped out of the shower, drying off a bit and re-wrapping her sprained wrist. There was a loud knock at the door so she wrapped a long towel around her and went off to answer the door. She opened the door to see an orange blur to bound past her, causing the bottom of the towel to flutter around her thighs.

"Good morning, Sakura-chan!" the orange blur, commonly known as Naruto yelled happily from her kitchen.

"Hey big forehead girl," Sakura focused her attention back to outside the door, where her favorite people stood.

"Hello, Sakura-san," Hinata greeted Sakura softly, Tenten stood behind the two, greeting Sakura with a smile.

"Feel special today?" Ino asked as they walked past her into Sakura's foyer.

"Huh?" Sakura asked slightly confused.

"God, I expected you to have something behind that big forehead of yours," Ino said rolling her eyes.

"It's your birthday, Sakura!" Naruto yelled for the kitchen.

"Oh, it must have slipped my mind," Sakura said laughing a little.

"Why don't you get changed? You're presents will be here soon, and Chouji agreed to make you a special breakfast just for your birthday," Ino said pushing Sakura in the direction of the medium length hall. Sakura walked into her room, forgetting to lock her door, and began brushing her now long hair.

**Back in the Foyer: March 28th: 9.45 A.M. **

Shikamaru, Kiba (and Akumaru,) Chouji, Lee, Shino, Kakashi, Sasuke, and Neji entered the apartment. (The later two actually forced.) Chouji had quickly found the kitchen, where Naruto was happily shoving his face full of ramen. He kicked Naruto out and began the breakfast.

Sakura had yet to come out of her room when the food had finished, but they decided to let her be. Chouji had the other guys move some of the already finished food to the dining room, but none had ever had the chance to be in Sakura's home prior to now.

"Hey Ino, where's Sakura's dining room?" Kiba asked a small malicious grin spread over Ino's face.

_'Hm...Sakura's room is the last door on the right, the dining room is the last door on the left...heeheehee,' Ino thought, she knew Sakura had the tendency to keep the doors closed, but never, ever lock them._

"Last door on the right," Ino replied, Hinata's eyes widened as she realized what Ino had just done. The left side of Tenten's lip was twitching, she was trying to keep from laughing. Ino held up three fingers.

_'Three...' she put one finger down, '...Two...' another, '...One...'_

She put one finger down, another,

"Aaaahhhh," a high pitched scream rang through the homes of Konoha, and a slamming door.

**Sakura's Room: March 28th: 9.42 A.M. **

Sakura's hair was officially dried and straightened, and for some reason pulled up with a clip. She moved over to her wardrobe and hastily pulled on a black thong. If she had been paying attention she would have heard a very soft click, the sound of an opening door, but sadly she wasn't. She turned to retrieve her hopefully dry bra from where it was drying in the master bathroom.

But she never made it. She froze to meet the wide eyes of her peers...and her sensei. She did what any teenage girl would do. Scream.

"AAAAHHHHIIIIEEEE!" she screamed covering her...ahem...upper self. The staring boys snapped out of their own world and pulled the door closed with a slam. Sakura rushed over to the door locking it and slumped with her back to it. She pulled her knees to her chest and bit her lip to keep her from crying of humiliation.

There was a soft knock at the door.

"Sakura-san? Are you alright?" Hinata's voice was heard on the opposite side of the door from where the soft spoken young lady kneeled.

"Please, just go away," Sakura rasped her throat dry and tense. There were soft murmurs on the other side of the door and finally a reply came.

"Very well Sakura-san," Hinata's voice reached Sakura's ears.

"Have a happy birthday," Ino and Tenten said simultaneously. The soft retreating footsteps of her friends was the only sound she heard.

**The Foyer: March 28th: 9.56 A.M. **

"That was...interesting," Kakashi stated, the others only nodded, while Akumaru barked.

"I never knew Sakura had any tattoos," Kiba said, breaking the beginning of an awkward silence, speaking of Sakura's tattoo of the Hidden Leaf Symbol on the back of her neck, the angel wings across her shoulder blades, a complicated tribal sign that circled her waist line, and a small red heart containing writing on her stomach slightly above and left of her pierced belly button.

"When did she get the tattoos, is what I'm questioning," Kakashi said to himself.

"How troublesome," Shikamaru said sighing, he looked around the room and the boys who had yet to speak and he saw that all of them were covering or pinching their noses. He scowled, but the image of Sakura floated into his thoughts, and soon enough he was pinching his nose.

Ino, Tenten, and Hinata enter the silent room.

"Let's go," Ino said receiving a cynical look from Shika.

"Sakura-san wishes for us to leave," Hinata spoke softly, like usual.

"She probably wants to die in peace, trying to forget the humiliation," Tenten added, the others understood and they all left without a word.

**Present: March 28th: 5.39 P.M.**

Sakura thought of the smaller misfortunes she should have taken as a bad omen. Poking herself in BOTH eyes with both her eye liner and mascara applicator. Finding a small bloodstain in her over-stuffed chair in the foyer. Finding her kitchen in a mess, and all her ramen missing...wonder who had done that. The list went on. And then...of all things, there was a knock on the door.

She braced herself, and opened the door. A chuunin stood holding a scroll. He handed Sakura the scroll and left in a puff of smoke. Sakura closed the door and opened the scroll, reading it quickly, not even bothering to put anything on other then her ragged tee shirt and a pair of ripped up Capri's.

She grabbed her belt that held her kunai and shuriken, and disappeared in a flurry of sakuras.

She reappeared in a training area where shuriken and kunai were flying freely. A Jounin stood in the middle of all this dodging the weapons with ease, smoking a cigarette. He waved me over.

"What's going on Asuma?" Sakura asked dodging three kunai.

"The new gennin thought it would be funny to see one of their teachers dodge as many weapons as they can throw," Asuma replied sighing.

"Well, it'll be quite funny for you to see the being all pissed about extra laps, push up, homework, you know the whole punishment thing," Sakura said quite loudly. The weapons ceased and Asuma sighed with relief.

"Thanks, Sakura," Asuma said, Sakura started walking away when Asuma stated.

"Oh, and Sakura, I heard about you unfortunate event this morning," Sakura froze.

"It's already started going around?" Sakura groaned, not noticing the stray shuriken that was heading right towards her. She noticed it at last minute and moved only enough that it only made a cut across the left side of her collar bone.

"Dammit! I hate fucking birthdays!" Sakura shrieked as she left the training ground in another flurry of sakuras.

After she head healed her cut she changed from her ripped tee into a black tube top. She moved into the foyer and curled up in her bloodstained chair. She was almost dozing, when there was a knock at the door. She stood abruptly, walked over to the door, and pulled it open.

"What the hell do you want?" she asked without looking at the person.

"Calm down, we're here to take you to the pub," Ino said.

"I'm not going," Sakura replied.

"Please, Sakura-san?" Hinata asked.

"Today has been a really bad day, all I want is for it to be over," she replied a frown set on her face.

"One drink," Tenten asked trying to look unbearably cute.

"One condition," Sakura said.

"Name it," Tenten said smugly.

"Never, ever, ever, do that again," Sakura smirked.

"Fine," Tenten muttered. Sakura sighed and went to put on her boots (F.M.B.!) She can back with a black jacket too.

"Let's go!" Ino said pulling Sakura out the door.

**The Pub: March 28th: 7.48 P.M.**

Ino pulled Sakura into the pub behind her, and led her to an extremely large table in the very back. She was forced into a seat in between Shikamaru and Neji, across from Kiba, who was grinning at her stupidly. She blushed at the memory of the morning.

Ino stood up trying to get everyone's attention by clearing her throat. It didn't work. She began arguing with Tenten, Asuma, and Anko, everyone else talked quite loudly, and Tenten made the face. Sakura took this as her chance to escape. She slipped up from her chair and made a quick line to the exit. By the time she had reached the exit Ino had shut everyone up and had their attention.

"We're here today to celebrate my best friend; Sakura's eighteenth birth-...hey where is big forehead girl?" Sakura shook her head as Ino looked around the crowded pub franticly from her spot. But Sakura had already left.

She didn't know where she would go, so she just wandered. Somehow she ended up at the playground. She sat on the moving back and forth just a little. She looked up at the sky. It was going to rain. Her bottom lip quivered as she relived the events of the day in her mind for the up-teen time. Another person joined her in the swing next to her. She didn't even look over.

"You know Ino's going on a rampage since you're not there," Nara Shikamaru's voice floated into my thoughts.

"So?" Sakura replied.

"She's going on about how important having her friends around for a birthday means so much."

"A birthday is just a number, and it just reminds you how long you've survived this hell."

"Slightly pessimistic, I see."

"If only you knew."

"What? Did you have a bad day? Hey, what happened to you wrist?" Shikamaru asked carefully picking up her wrist to inspect it. She felt a shock of electricity run through her body as he carefully touched her wrist.

"I...I sprained it," she replied not taking her eyes off of him. He carefully let her hand drop and looked at her.

"What does the tattoo on your stomach say?" he asked bluntly, she felt the blood rush to her face.

"Rookie 9."

"Oh," she could have sworn she say a look of relief in his eyes.

"Why were you jealous?" she tease at him.

"Why would I be jealous?"

"Because I could have any man I want," Sakura said confidently, standing from the swing.

"Probably not," Shika muttered, her eyes widened as she moved to stand in front of him her arms crossed in fury.

"Are you saying I'm not attractive? Or is it I have no skill in impressing men?"

"You're standing in front of me Sakura, after what happened this morning, I'm must say I'm impressed."

"So you're saying I'm not attractive?" Sakura inquired.

"Woman, you are troublesome," and with that Shika stood his chest against Sakura's. His arms snaked around her waist as he pulled her closer.

He move his lips to hers, almost automatically her arms wrapped around his neck, pulling him closer, egging him on to continue. He gently nibbled her bottom lip causing her to shudder and gasp. He ran his tongue over her bottom lip, as if asking permission to continue. Her lips parted allowing him entrance, his tongue tentatively met hers, and their tongues danced, battling for control. The kiss became more demanding and insistent, they both pulled back panting for air. Shika kissed her gently, on her now bruised and swollen lips.

"And yes, you are attractive," he whispered in a deep growl, which Sakura found extremely sexy. He let her go reluctantly and someone approached the playground. The both took their seats back on the swings and waited. Ino came and grabbed both Sakura and Shika and pulled them in the direction of the pub.

"You said you would stay for a drink..." Ino started in on Sakura.

"If Tenten never made the face again, and she did, so I left," Sakura said hoping Ino wouldn't notice her swollen lips.

"Please at least let us sing happy birthday," Ino said, while Shika was muttering under his breathe.

"I think I may just stay for the whole party...thing..." Sakura said smiling, Ino stopped and looked her. Ino's eyes widened suddenly, she had noticed, and gave Sakura the 'you-better-tell-me-later' look. And they entered the pub.

Shika and Sakura took their seats and Ino tried to get everyone's attention. Apparently Tenten and Hinata had noticed the swollen/bruised lips along with every other female at the table. Tenten also gave me the 'you-better-tell-me-later' look.

Ino finally gained everyone's attention and began her speech...again.

"Like I was saying, before the birthday girl disappeared," she shot me a knowing look, "We're here today to celebrate my best friend, Sakura's eighteenth birthday...yada, yada, yada! Even though today was a bad day for her, I believe that it did have its' high point. And the guys did learn something about Sakura," she picked up a glass of champagne and held it to my direction, To big forehead girl...who's forehead isn't big anymore." Glasses clashed together making a '_clink'_ sound.

"Now we have to sing _Happy Birthday_," Ino said as a big cake with 18 candles was set in front of Sakura.

_"Happy Birthday to you,_

_Happy Birthday to you, _

_Happy Birthday dear Sakura,_

_Happy Birthday to you!"_

Sakura thought for a moment and took Shikamarus's hand in hers under the table and put the interlocked hands on the table as Sakura blew out the candles. Everyone cheer, and didn't even notice Sakura's and Shikamarus's still interlocked hands.

Shika leaned over to Sakura's ear to whisper something.

"Happy Birthday, Sakura-chan," he whispered putting his free hand on her cheek turning her head toward him and kissed her gentle on the lips. Everyone had quieted down and watched the two new lovers, except Naruto and Sasuke who were fighting and Kakashi who was reading_ Icha Icha Paradise._

"Awww! That was so cute!" Ino said snapping a picture, before Shika and Sakura broke away seconds later.

_Fin_


End file.
